Blue Herons are back

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

The beloved Blue Herons are back to their habitat along the James River.

So reports Rex Springston, the environmental reporter at the Times-Dispatch. “The big birds, which spend much of the year in swamps to the southeast, returned to Richmond in late January or early February,” Springston reports.

“The heron colony, on an island, apparently was first reported in 2007, and it drew widespread attention just last year. The big colony, or rookery, is a first for the city.”

Blue Herons generally eat snakes, fish and other small mammals, so this is probably a sign that the local ecosystem is healthy.